US scrap exports down again in 2016

February 17, 2017 by Ian Martin

United States: From 11.696 million tonnes in 2015, America's ferrous scrap exports slid 4% lower to 11.233 million tonnes last year. These totals compare to the 17.297 million tonnes shipped abroad as recently as 2013.

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According to data from the Census Bureau and International Trade Commission, leading buyer Turkey slashed its US ferrous scrap purchases by more than 21% - from 3.961 million tonnes in 2015 to 3.123 million tonnes - while Taiwan and South Korea trimmed their orders by, respectively, 3.3% to 1.237 million tonnes and 19.5% to 829 414 tonnes.

Even India, whose crude steel production leapt more than 7% last year, reduced its US scrap requirements by 0.4% to 1.011 million tonnes.

Among the top five importers of US ferrous scrap, the only country to boost their purchases last year was Mexico with an increase of 29.3% to 1.384 million tonnes. Chinese imports of US material climbed 14.2% year on year to 432 273 tonnes while orders from Bangladesh skyrocketed almost 140% from 122 414 tonnes in 2015 to 292 953 tonnes last year.

Preliminary data from the same two bodies indicate that total US scrap exports - including ferrous/non-ferrous/precious metals scrap, recovered paper, plastic scrap, glass cullet and used textiles - edged less than 1% lower last year to just under 37 million tonnes although the decline in value terms was 5.8% to US$ 16.5 billion.

The biggest overseas customer by far was China with a spend of US$ 5.2 billion, followed by Canada on US$ 2 billion.

The USA's total scrap exports peaked in 2011 at 51.8 million tonnes, carrying a value of US$ 32.6 billion.